NUTRITION: What should we eat?
What I Learned and Where I Found It
By Bob Parvin
Vitamins, Minerals, and Phytochemicals
Vitamins, Minerals, and Phytochemicals
We not only need reliable information on what we should eat, but we should also be motivated to use it. Where can we get reliable nutrition information? Most medical doctors are not well trained in nutrition. They are more likely to reach for their prescription pad than to prescribe diet and lifestyle changes. See Status of nutrition education in medical schools. We simply must inform ourselves, which is not difficult by using the Internet and perhaps reading an appropriate book.
Nutrition is the science of food, its nutrients, and the body's response. (It is also the process of nourishment or being nourished.) If someone calls himself a "nutritionist," beware. Only about half of the states have professional standards and licensing procedures for the nutritionist designation.
Dietetics is the science or art of applying the principles of nutrition to the diet. In the yellow pages we can find Registered Dietitians, a credential awarded by the American Dietetics Association. An R.D. may only have a B. S. degree in food science, but some also have an M. S. degree.
There are many "nutrition entrepreneurs" who are constantly flooding the bookstores with diet books for popular consumption, and some of them also sell a food product line. Their nutritional expertise and level of huckstering varies.
Since I am not a nutrition expert, I rely mostly on experts that seem to be the most qualified, and this is a very difficult judgment to make. I search the Web and preferably for university sites by entering in Google search words followed by a space and by site:edu. Below I suggest books on what to eat that I think are very good for the general public.
My bottom line is that foods range from health positive foods like most fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, and nuts and seeds at one end of the food spectrum and health negative foods like hamburgers, French fries, and shakes at the other end. We don't have to totally avoid health negative foods, but the more we avoid them and eat a variety of health positive foods the more healthful our diet will be.
We need to recognize that deciding what we should eat involves value judgments. What value do we place on cultural, ethnic, religious, philosophical, attitudinal, hedonistic, and environmental factors as well as on health. But my concern here is mainly health. We must also recognize the extent to which what we eat and drink defines us; therefore, it is not easy for us to change our diets even in the face of health issues that require it.
Before getting into choosing eating plans or food guides I will first cover what I have learned from nutrition books about the nutrients including the macro-nutrients consisting of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, fiber, and water and offer some tips about foods. I will also mention the micro-nutrients including vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals.
Your feedback will be welcome. Please send an e-mail message to me, Bob Parvin: bandcparvinXhotmail.com (Substitute @ for X. I'm trying to hide my address from spammers.)
The carbohydrate foods are the backbone of diets of most cultures. They provide a clean-burning source of energy. The whole foods also provide important incidental fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. What exactly are carbohydrates? Here is an outline glossary of the carbohydrates:
In making food and beverage choices we need to be aware of the amount of sugar in common foods. We don't often realize just how much sugar we are consuming. For example, a 12-ounce can of a typical sugar-sweetened soft drink may contain about 8 to 10 teaspoons of sugar or about 150 empty calories. (Would you ever put 10 teaspoons of sugar in a large glass of ice tea?) Many teenagers drink two 16-ounce cans of pop per day. That's equivalent to about a 3/4 cup of sugar! To make matters worse, the sugar is usually high-fructose corn syrup, and the health effects of high levels of fructose are worrisome. See for example The Double Danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup. Have you ever eaten an 8 oz. cup of fruit yogurt thinking you were getting a nutritious, low calorie snack? A cup of fruit yogurt contains about 7 tsp. of sugar!
How about artificial sweeteners? Five have been approved by the FDA (saccharin, aspartame, neotame, acesulfame-K, and sucralose), and two more are under review. To compare them see Artificial Sweetener Reference Chart. I use Splenda in the large box that "measures cup for cup like sugar," which is a mixture of sucralose and maltodextrin. It won't lose sweetness during long baking. Some people may be allergic to sucralose, so one should start with a small amount.
The newest FDA approved sweetener is neotame, which is about 8,000 times as sweet as sugar. It is intended for commercial use in soft drinks, jams and jellies, baked goods, frozen desserts, puddings, etc.
There have been anecdotal reports of safety issues with all of these artificial sweeteners, but I will warily accept the FDA approval, which means that after a lot of testing nothing bad about them has been found yet. However, the long-term effect of some of the newer products is not known especially when consumed in high doses such as in diet soft drinks. (It is well to remember that the bad effects of sugars are definitely known.) For more on the safety of these sweeteners go to Are sugar substitutes safe?
Stevia is a natural herbal non-caloric sweetener that has a long record of safe use in other countries. The FDA in its wisdom permits stevia to be sold as a food supplement but not as a sweetener and not as a food additive since they are not convinced that it is safe. For more on this interesting subject go to Stevia: Toxic or Tasty?
Some "sugar free" products contain "sugar alcohols" (polyhydric alcohols or polyols, sugar replacers) that include sorbitol, malitol, mannitol, lactitol, isomalt, xylitol, and erythritol (note the "ol" ending). Polyols are used commercially for bulk and texture as well as for sweetening. They are found in jams, jellies, beverages, baked goods, chewing gum, and breath mints. They do not cause tooth decay, but they may have a laxative effect for some people. The newer polyol, erythritol, (Eridex brand made by Cerestar) apparently is non-laxative, has only 0.2 calories/g, and is 70% as sweet as table sugar. For more on sweeteners go to Sugars and Sweeteners in Food.
Here are some tips on sugar:
Desserts play an important part in our Western cuisines. A dinner is just not complete unless we finish it off with desert and coffee. Many of our deserts are not only high in sugar but also high in fat and particularly saturated fat. However, a "healthful dessert" is not an oxmoron. Here are some suggestions:
Digestion of starch begins in the mouth where the enzyme amylase in saliva starts breaking down the long chain starch molecules. Dextrins are intermediate short chain molecules. (Dextrin is commercially made to use as a fat replacer.) Digestion continues in the small intestines with amylase in pancreatic juice. The resulting smaller molecules are further broken down in the intestinal walls into simple sugars, mostly glucose, which are absorbed in the blood stream. A rise in blood glucose alerts the pancreas to produce insulin, which regulates the glucose level by controlling the absorption into the cells where it is either burned or stored. To make sure that there is a steady supply of glucose, the body stores some of it in the muscles and liver in the form of glycogen and, of course, it converts excess glucose to fat.
Prior to the 1990s it was generally believed that starches are better for us than sugars because starchy foods were digested more slowly thus increasing blood glucose more slowly. However, research revealed that starchy foods vary substantially in the speed of digestion. So now starches are rated according to the blood glucose response. The preferred starches cause a slow blood glucose response that avoids a spike in insulin production, which will too rapidly decrease the blood level of glucose bringing on hunger pangs and an energy letdown commonly occurring in mid morning.
The blood glucose response is measured by the glycemic index (G. I.). Foods are compared to dietary glucose, which is arbitrarily rated 100. A G. I. of 55 or less is low meaning that the starch or sugar is slowly converted to blood glucose, 60 is medium, and 70 or more is high. Low is good, but we need also to look at the glycemic load (G. L.), which is the amount of glucose that is produced in a typical serving. It is calculated by multiplying the G. I. as a percentage times the grams of carbohydrate in a serving. One unit of G. L. is one gram. A G. L. of 10 or less is low, 15 is medium, and 20 or more is high. To see how this works, watermelon has a high G. I. but a low amount of carbohydrate, so the amount of glucose produced in a serving, the G. L., is relatively low. White flour has both a high G. I. and a high G. L. See Glycemic Index and Load. To get the big picture go to Glycemic Index, Glycemic Load, Satiety, and the Fullness Factor.
Since there are several factors determining the blood glucose response from foods such as the size of particles, the cooking time, presence of other nutrients such as fat and protein, and the acidity, the American Dietetics Association doesn't consider the Glycemic Index very helpful. See The Glycemic Index: What is it? However, in their book entitled American Dietetic Association Guide to Eating Right When You Have Diabetes they give "ratings for high, low, and moderate glycemic index foods." Also some ADA members do find it useful. Of course, the G. I. is not the only criterion to use in choosing foods, but it is significant in choosing among carbohydrates for a given meal. The ADA does advocate the use of whole grains, which do have a lower G. I. than more processed grains. However, some foods that are not heavily processed have a high G. I. such as baked potatoes unless they are slathered liberally with butter or sour cream in which case the problem is changed to saturated fat.
The Harvard nutritionists in the Nutrition Source, Carbohydrates say, "The best sources of carbohydrates—whole grains, vegetables, fruits and beans—promote good health by delivering vitamins, minerals, fiber, and a host of important phytonutrients. Easily digested carbohydrates from white bread, white rice, pastries, sugared sodas, and other highly processed foods may contribute to weight gain, interfere with weight loss, and promote diabetes and heart disease." One of the Harvard nutritionists, Dr. Walter C. Willet, in his Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy (p. 94) says to choose foods that have a low glycemic load.
How about low-carb diets that have been popular? With the demise of Dr. Atkins interest in the very low carb diets is fading somewhat. Low carb diets are often overloaded with saturated fats and protein. See Low-carb diets and Low-fat better than low-carb diets for heart health.
Here are some tips for choosing your starches:
We need adequate amounts of both insoluble fiber as in wheat bran and carrots and soluble fiber as in oat bran and apples. To cover both bases in my cereal selection, I use both flaked oats and Cream of Whole Wheat. Another virtue of a plant-based diet is that it is more likely to provide adequate fiber. To learn more about the many virtues of fiber go to Fiber.
One of the major dietary problems that we seniors have is getting enough exercise, fiber, and water to keep things moving. Even a good diet emphasizing whole foods may not provide enough fiber for us. We may benefit from taking psyllium, a soluble fiber, with adequate water. Metamucil may be the best known brand, but it is not the most economical source. I buy psyllium husks from a health foods store.
Pysllium may also benefit younger people who are overweight. Taking one tablespoon of psyllium with a full 8 ounces of water 30 minutes before a meal is suggested by Drs. Roizen and Oz in their book entitled You on a Diet to curb the appetite. One should check that out with ones health care professional.
For precautions in using psyllium go to Psyllium. With a high fiber diet be especially careful to drink adequate fluid.
When we go without food for a while, the "fasting hormone," glucagon, is produced by the alpha cells of the pancreas. It stimulates the muscle and liver cells to convert the stored glycogen back into glucose to supply the brain and other cells. When our glucose level is too low, we have hypoglycemia, which can make us shaky and light-headed.
When we eat foods high in sugar and high GI index starch for breakfast, for example, the pancreas pumps out too much insulin, which lowers the glucose too much, and this brings on hunger pangs midmorning. When this happens too often over time, we develop insulin resistance. This may become a part of the metabolic syndrome, which may include elevated glucose and triglyceride levels, belly fat, low "good" cholesterol level and high "bad' cholesterol level. These are risk factors for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and strokes. With type 2 diabetes the pancreas finally becomes unable to secrete enough insulin to handle the glucose load. To learn more about this vitally important subject, go to Insulin Resistance and Pre-diabetes and Am I at Risk for Type 2 Diabetes?
Wouldn't it be nice if we had a product with the mouth feel of fats but not the calories? We do have it with fat substitutes, but they pose problems. (There's no free lunch in nutrition.) One concern with these fat replacers is that since they are not digested they pick up fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, & K) in the same way that mineral oil does and carry them out in the stool.
Most of the fat digestion takes place in the small intestines. The fat must first be emulsified by bile stored in the gallbladder and made by the liver so that lipase from the pancreas can strip fatty acids from the triglycerides. Some of the bile is caught by dietary fiber (mostly soluble fiber such as oat bran) in the large intestines and eliminated. Since cholesterol is used to make bile, this results in lowering blood cholesterol. The triglycerides are either absorbed directly into the blood stream or are reassembled into new triglycerides, wrapped with a lipoprotein to make them mix with the blood, and sent on their way in the lymph system.
Remember that fats have 9 calories per gram, 42 calories per tsp, and 125 calories per tbsp.
The Harvard nutritionists say, "Although it is still important to limit the amount of cholesterol you eat, especially if you have diabetes, dietary cholesterol isn't nearly the villain it's been portrayed to be. Cholesterol in the bloodstream is what's most important. And the biggest influence on blood cholesterol level is the mix of fats in your diet—not the amount of cholesterol you eat from food." See Fats and Cholesterol.
Also see What are cholesterol, other lipids, and lipoproteins? from the University of Maryland.
Fat supplies a major part of our energy needs. When the body needs energy, it uses up its stored glycogen rather quickly and then turns to its fat supply. Upon demand fatty acids are released into the blood where they are broken into fragments which are combined with glucose fragments to produce energy, carbon-dioxide, and water in the clean-burning process. However, if glucose is not available, ketosis occurs and ketones are produced instead of carbon-dioxide and water. The body can burn ketones, but they upset the body's acid balance that can cause unpleasant side effects such as bad breath and headaches. This is one problem with the Atkins diet.
The first reason we need to watch our intake of saturated fats is that they are high in calories, and a second reason is that they stimulate the production of LDL cholesterol in the liver, which can clog arteries.
There are some 20 amino acids and all but 8, which are called the essential amino acids, can be synthesized in the adult body. A "complete protein" contains all of the essential amino acids, as in all animal products such as meat, milk, and eggs and in complimentary vegetarian combinations such as beans and rice. Our bodies utilize amino acids in a set proportion; therefore, if the protein is short on one essential amino acid, we can utilize less of the other amino acids for protein. So complementation increases the total protein utilization.
Cereal grains contain a modest amount of protein, but it is not a complete protein since it is especially short on the essential amino acids, lysine and isoleucine. They do have a good supply of tryptophan and sulfur-containing amino acids. Beans, on the other hand, have just the opposite amino acid profile, so you can see why grain and beans are such a good marriage. Each complements the other. Milk has a complete protein but is especially rich in lysine, so milk supplements and complements the protein in oatmeal.
Francis Moore Lappe in her Diet for a Small Planet said that the complementary protein must be eaten simultaneously to balance each other, but it is now generally thought they can be consumed a few hours apart. However, the "bookkeeping" is easier if we balance the proteins in each meal. For more on proteins go to Complementary Protein and Diet. Each culture has serendipitously found complementary foods that provide adequate amounts of all 8 essential amino acids in such combinations as beans and rice in Mexico and rice and soy products in Japan.
Digestion breaks the proteins into their component amino acids. It starts in the stomach where strong hydrochloric acid modifies the protein so that the pepsin enzyme can ultimately split the polypeptides into amino acids. In the small intestine the acid is neutralized by alkaline pancreatic juice. The intestine's cells either make needed new proteins or convert the protein into glucose for energy. Amino acids not used are carried to the liver where they may be used or put back in the blood for the use by other cells to make protein or for other uses.
According to the Harvard experts, we need a minimum of 1 gram of protein per 1 kilo (0.454 gram per pound) of body weight per day. If your healthy body weight is 150 lb or 68 kilo, you need a minimum of 68 grams of protein per day. Four ounces of lean beef contains 35g, one large egg - 6.5g, one-half cup of soybeans - 15 gr, one-half cup of black beans - 8g, one serving of oatmeal - 3.5g, and shelled walnuts - 8g per one-half cup. Although animal foods are rich in protein, it is easy to get enough protein of good quality from a plant-based diet with a little planning.
When we have a surplus of amino acids, they are disassembled because they can't be stored. The amino group in the amino acid is excreted as urea, and the remaining "carbon skeleton" is converted to glucose and burned for energy or stored as fat. If the cells are hungry and have no glucose or fat available, they will disassemble the protein in muscle tissue to provide needed glucose for energy especially to feed the brain.
Would you believe that too much protein (especially animal protein) is hazardous to your health? It can weaken your bones and damage your kidneys in addition to other bad things. See The Dangers of having too much protein.
Red meat eaters can take the first step toward a healthy diet and easily get their protein by switching to the Mediterranean diet which consists of mostly fresh vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, whole grains, fish, monounsaturated fats such as olive oil, moderate to low amounts of dairy and alcohol, and low amounts of meat. The conclusion from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study of data drawn from 214,284 men and 166,012 women ages 50 to 71 is that men who followed the Mediterranean diet more closely were 17% less likely to die from cancer and 22% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease. Women with a high score for following the diet were 14% less likely to die from cancer and 21% less to die from cardiovascular disease. Other finding are that those who consumed about a quarter-pound of red meat per day were more than 30% more likely to die during the 10 years they were followed than those who consumed the least. This should make us think twice before buying red meats and processed meats and make us more inclined to get our protein from non-meat sources. To read more about the study, go to The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. (The study also shows large benefits from regular exercise.)
Here are some tips on protein:
Bottled water is not necessarily good quality water. The FDA regulates water sold in interstate commerce, but their standards are low. The National Resources Defense Council found that about 25% of bottled water is simply tap water with or without further treatment. Come to think of it, in view of all of the air pollution I think I will start selling bottled air.
Tips for drinking more fluid:
Finally, we come to the vitamins and minerals. When I was in grade school, we were taught this mnemonic: COLORED (A), VITAL (organs, B1 or thiamine), COVERINGS (B2 or riboflavin), FRESH (fruit and vegetables for C), SUNSHINE (D), VARIETY EQUALS VITAMINS. Knowledge of vitamins has come a long way since then, but the "variety equals vitamins" is still good advice.
The main question is whether or not we need vitamin supplementation. How many times have you heard this mantra (often from doctors): "If you eat a well-balanced diet, you do not need vitamin supplements." That's an obvious truism, but who eats a really well-balanced diet and how many of us would know if we did? The Harvard School of Public Health recommends a standard daily multivitamin "to fill the holes." See their page on Vitamins. Also see Multiple Vitamin-Mineral Supplements.
Some people need supplementation more than others. For example, we seniors who have a low food intake and lower absorption may need more vitamins and minerals across the board. Vegans may need supplemental vitamin B12 eat vegetable giving iron and zinc. Menstruating women need more iron. People who don't drink milk or get out in the sun need more vitamin D especially if they have back problems (See Fight Off Back Aches & Pains This Winter With Extra Vitamin D.
The University of Florida Shands Cancer Center says, "Women with early breast cancer who have low blood levels of vitamin D have a worse outcome than those with adequate levels of vitamin D. These results were recently released by the American Society of Clinical Oncology." See Vitamin D Affects Outcomes in Breast Cancer. See Creighton Study Shows Vitamin D Reduces Cancer Risk that says, "There is a growing body of evidence that a higher intake of vitamin D may be helpful in the prevention and treatment of cancer, high blood pressure, fibromyalgia, diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases."
We often read about the importance of antioxidants that protect cells and compounds like DNA from free radicals produced by oxidation. The free radicals are molecules missing an electron, and they go after DNA and other molecules to get the electrons. Antioxidants generously give up electrons to free radicals so that they don't get them from DNA and other molecules. Antioxidants include vitamins C and E, carotenoids, selenium, manganese, and probably many unknown substances. Dr. T. Colin Campbell at Cornell and Dr. Walter C. Willett at Harvard advises that instead of taking high dose antioxidant pills we should eat lots of fruits and vegetables in order to get the full array of antioxidants.
The mineral we hear most about is calcium. Everyone knows that dairy products are a good source of calcium, right? I would like to believe that dairy products are a good source of calcium, but this is what the Harvard experts say: "The value of milk in preventing osteoporosis in older people is unclear. There is no scientific consensus at the moment." See Calcium and Milk for a few surprises. They say, "While calcium and dairy can lower the risk of osteoporosis and colon cancer, high intake can increase the risk of prostate cancer and possibly ovarian cancer." As an aging male, I'm not going to be enthusiastic about milk until the product is exonerated on this issue.
It's not difficult to obtain an adequate supply of calcium on a plant-based diet. Also see Dietary calcium is better than supplements at protecting bone health.
Salt is a necessary mineral in our diet, but rather than concern about too little, the problem is usually too much salt. The recognized minimum daily salt requirement in adults is 500 mg in the US, and the maximum is 2,400 mg of sodium or 6 grams of salt (a little over 1 tsp). About 75% of a typical person's salt intake comes from processed food, which is another reason to buy fresh foods. People who are African-Americans, overweight, or over 50 years of age are particularly likely to experience high blood pressure from excess salt. See A Moment of Science and Dietary Salt and Sodium. Here are some good suggestions for lowering salt intake: The Salt Connection in Managing High Blood Pressure. A good rule is to avoid adding any salt during cooking. If you add salt, add it at the table so that it is on the outside of the food rather than being cooked into it. Better yet, have a shaker or two of herbs on the table.
In addition to vitamins and minerals, phytochemicals (plant chemicals) have importance in the biological activities of the body as in protecting against diseases. For example, one important phytochemical is lycopene, a powerful antioxidant in cooked tomatoes, is thought to protect against certain cancers. Phytochemicals are another important reason for eating our fruits and veggies. For more information see The Phytochemical Collection and Phytochemicals and Functional Foods: Super Foods for Optimal Health.
(There is another set of nutrient standards called the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI), which includes the population-wide Estimated Average Requirements (EAR), Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for people with the highest needs, Adequate Intake (AI) for individuals when the RDA has not been established, and Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL). The Daily Value standard on food labels is presently based on the 1968 RDA but includes requirements for some nutrients not covered by the RDA.)
As we have seen, the panel doesn't show the nutrient percentages by weight. However, this is easy to calculate since it shows the serving size in grams and the nutrient per serving in grams.
Another important section of the Nutrition Facts panel is the list of ingredients in the order of the amount by weight. Look for partially hydrogenated soybean oil, which is not good. There may be several types of sugars, but the sugar amount is for the total. There also may be one or more of about 3,000 food additives. They are added to improve flavor, color, texture, stability, nutrition, and resistance to spoilage. They are all approved by the FDA, but the more polysyllabic chemicals a food includes the less I am inclined to buy it. To get the information on a food additive and its purpose, go to List of Food Additives. Since they are not listed alphabetically, use their "search" slot to find all about a particular ingredient. My favorite polysyllable is polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (a color stabilizer).
For more information on food labels go to How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label.
We should note that the conversion of dietary fat to body fat needs about 3 calories of energy. However, the conversion of 100 calories of dietary carbs and protein requires 23 calories. This is another reason for having a low fat diet.
To lose one pound of weight, we must burn about 3,500 calories more than we consume. To lose only one pound per week, we must have a negative balance of 500 calories a day, which is about equal to that piece of cake and ice cream you're contemplating.
An outstanding food analysis source is Food Category Explorer. Use the search function near the upper right side of the page. Suppose that you want an analysis of long grain brown rice. Click "Cereal Grains & Pasta," type in "brown rice," and enter. On the next screen click "Rice, brown, long-grain, raw." Under "Food Energy" you can read the calories from carbs, fat, and protein and the total calories per serving. Cursor down to find a detailed analysis. Notice that they show the percentages of carbs, fats, and protein by weight. Another food analysis source is USDA food values. The textbook cited below and others like it contain food analysis tables.
So, how many calories do we need per day to maintain a healthy weight? If our activity is light, we need roughly 15 calories multiplied by our healthy weight (1,800 for a 120 lb. woman and 2,250 for a man whose healthy weight is 150. For a more accurate calculation, go to Calorie Calculator. The trick in making food choices is to get the most nutrition within our daily calorie allowance.
Physical Activity
Notice that there are three important types of exercise: 1) cardiovascular exercise from such things as brisk walking for 30 minutes, 2) stretching exercise (when we are warmed up) to make us more limber, and 3) resistance exercise or weight training to build muscle mass, which increases the basal metabolism rate burning more calories while we are resting.
Elderly people are most likely to get inadequate exercise resulting in decreasing the calories burnt. Since our physical activity is less, our muscle mass decreases which also reduces the BMR. Furthermore, as we get old and put on weight and have joint problems, we move less, which results in even more weight gain.
To learn some good exercises go to Exercises for the Elderly; I especially like the "wall pushups." Walking is good, but elderly people should be cautious of falling. We should take about 5,000 steps per day or 10,000 if we are trying to lose weight. Instead of counting every step we can use a pedometer. See Omron HIP Pedometer. I use a Stepper, which gives exercise equivalent to walking upstairs.
We also need some upper body exercise to build muscle. I use wall pushouts. I stand about 3 feet from a wall, put my hands on the wall and lean into the wall and then push out. Each time I lean in I tilt my pelvis back and tighten my stomach muscles and release when I push out.
Many elderly people have arthritis. How much exercising should they? See
For the Government's exercise recommendations see 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans from the Office of Disease Prevention & Health Promotion, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Talk to your doctor before starting an exercise program.
Obesity
Obesity in America may be our most serious health problem: about two-thirds of us are overweight, about one-third are obese, and about 5% are severely obese (morbid obesity), according to the American Obesity Association, and the numbers are increasing. Obesity increases the risk of diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, stroke, certain forms of cancer, gall bladder disease, respiratory problems, arthritis, hernia, and backaches. The connection between diabetes and obesity is so strong that medics have coined the word "diabesity," which is on an alarming upward trend in the US.
About 30% of school children are overweight, and this has serious consequences. A recent study found that teenagers who carry excess body fat but aren't necessarily overweight show evidence of reduced blood vessel elasticity, which leads to high blood pressure and is an early warning sign of cardiovascular disease in adults. Excess fat is more strongly linked to stiffer blood vessels than high cholesterol. For more information go to Extra Body Fat Harms Blood Vessels in Teens.
Obesity is a relative term, but if you want to know if you have made the tubby team, go to Body Mass Calculator. This is not a good test for a muscular person. In addition to your BMI check your your abdominal circumference. See Pinch an Inch Revisited, which says, "... a waist circumference over 40 inches and women have a waist circumference of 35 inches."
As mentioned above, a big tummy or "beer belly" indicates an accumulation of visceral fat, which is a serious risk factor associated with high blood pressure, high triglycerides, high LDL and low HDL cholesterol, and insulin resistance in the metabolic syndrome, which puts one at risk for a heart attack, stroke, or diabetes. For more information go to the excellent American Heart Association site, Metabolic Syndrome.
Obesity reduces physical activity that would burn calories, which results in more weight gain. Elderly people often get caught in this downward cycle.
Fat is stored in fat cells, and the amount of fat stored depends upon the number and size of fat cells. The cells fill to a point and then divide. The more fat cells we have the more rapidly we regain fat that is lost. According to fat cell theory, it is important to prevent childhood obesity because new fat cells are mostly formed during childhood.
Diabetes
Can diet and lifestyle changes control diabetes without insulin? To get an answer from a respected nutrition oriented physicain go to Introducing Dr. Neal Barnard’s Program for Reversing Diabetes. To hear his answer and get some background on diabetes go to Neal Barnard's diabetes lecture at AFISilver Theater,
October 2006 - Part 1. For his book on reversing diabetes see Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes: The Scientifically Proven System for Reversing Diabetes without Drugs and read the reviews.
Another nutrition oriented physician, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D., also controls and reverses diabetes. See his book, Eat to Live (p. 158)? See below for a link to his book. Also see this You Tube clip: Dr. Fuhrman Cures Diabetes - But Drug Companies Object.
Also see Talk on How Diabetes Can Be Reversed Through a 30-Day Diet by Dr. Franklin House, Dr. Stuart A. Seale, and Ian Blake Newman, authors of The 30-Day Diabetes Miracle and see the companion cookbook, The 30-Day Diabetes Miracle Cookbook: Stop Diabetes with an Easy-to-Follow Plant-Based, Carb-Counting Diet.
Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is the process of plaque building up on the inside of blood vessels. If the plaque ruptures, it can cause a blood clot to form stopping the flow of blood. If this occurs in the heart, it causes a "heart attack," and if it occurs in the brain, it causes a "brain attack" or "stroke."
Dr. Dean Ornish is the best known physician for doing research that shows that coronary heart disease can be prevented and reversed by diet and other lifelstyle changes. Dr. Ornish's first landmark book was Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease: The Only System Scientifically Proven [up to that time] to Reverse Heart Disease Without Drugs or Surgery. To read about his program, go to The Dean Ornish Program>
The medical/pharmaceutical complex focuses on relieving symptons with drugs and surgery and incidentally lining their pockets and running up health care costs; whereas, Dr. Ornish's strategy is to deal with the causes of the disease. His dietary recommendations are as follows:
Dr. K. Lance Gould, who has served as director of the Division of Cardiology at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, also has show that diet can stop and reverse heart disease with diet, cholesterol-lowering drugs, and certain lifestyle changes. His target in treating heart patients is to get total cholesterol below 140 mg/dl, LDL cholesterol below 90 mg/dl, HDL above 45 mg/dl, and triglycerides below 130 mg/dl. In order to control the triglycerides he believes it important to have a diet not only low in fat but also low in carbohydrates. When the atherosclerosis and the weight are under control, the comlex carbs can be increased.
A third physician to prove that diet can stop and reverse atherosclerosis is Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D., who was a surgeon at th Cleveland Clinic. He organized the first National Conference on the Elimination and Prevention of Heart Disease. To read about his research go to Stopping Coronary Disease in its Tracks. To hear him speak on the subject, go to Make Yourself Heart Attack Proof.
John A. McDougall, M.D., and Joel Fuhrman, M.D., are also well known for saying that diet can prevent heart disease and many other diseases. To hear Dr. Fuhrman talk about it, go to Joel Fuhrman - Eat to Live
Although the effectiveness of diet in controlling atherosclerosis is well-established, few cardiologists are recommending dietary and lifestyle changes. See Nutritional Approaches for Coronary Artery Disease:
Survey of Cardiologists Reveals Insufficient Recommendation of Very Low-Fat Diets.
Vascular dementia results from atherosclerosis. See Vascular dementia.
Cancer
According to the National Institutes of Health, "About one-third of all cancer deaths may be related to what we eat. Making positive choices in your diet every day promotes good nutrition and good health and may reduce your risk of some types of cancer." See Diet, Nutrition & Cancer Prevention: The Good News.
A study from UC San Diego says, “We demonstrate in this study of breast cancer survivors that even if a woman is overweight, if she eats at least five servings of vegetables and fruits a day and walks briskly for 30 minutes, six days a week, her risk of death from her disease goes down by 50 percent,” said the paper’s first author, John Pierce, Ph.D., director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center. “The key is that you must do both.” See Diet and Exercise Key to Surviving Breast Cancer.
According to researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Harvard University, Shanghai Cancer Institute, and Vanderbilt University, in a study of older Chinese women suggests that a move toward a Western-style diet - heavy on meat and sugary foods - boosts breast cancer risk. See Western Diet May Increase Breast Cancer Risk.
Steven Clinton, director of cancer prevention and control at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center says, “Our findings provide further evidence that prostate-cancer development might be influenced by lifestyle. They also suggest that maintaining a proper energy balance -- an appropriate weight for height -- may inhibit the progression of prostate cancer.” See Lo-cal Diet Slows Prostate Cancer in Animals.
T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., professor of nutrition at Cornell, who was a co-leader in the China Study (see his book below) makes the case that both animal fats and animal proteins are implicated in promoting cancer. See Why China Holds the Key to Your Health in which he says, "The data from the China Project suggest that what we have come to consider as "normal" illnesses of aging are really not normal. In fact, these findings indicate that the vast majority perhaps 80 to 90%of all cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and other forms of degenerative illness can be prevented, at least until very old age, simply by adopting a plant-based diet." He makes a strong case against milk protein in promoting cancer, but he seems to go beyond his data in indictin all animal protein.
Dietary protein is associated with the plasma insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). A Washington University in St. Louis report (Does too much protein in the diet increase cancer risk? Says, "Past research has linked pre-menopausal breast cancer, prostate cancer and certain types of colon cancer to high levels of IGF-1, a powerful growth factor that promotes cell proliferation. Data from animal studies also suggest that lower IGF-1 levels are associated with maximal lifespan. The studies first author, Luigi Fontana, M.D., Ph.D., said "Many people are eating too many animal products — such as meat, cheese, eggs and butter — as well as refined grains and free sugars. Our intake of vegetables and fruits is low, and beans are vastly underconsumed in the U.S. and Europe these days."
Also see Surprising Study Reveals How Cancer-Causing Protein Activates from Brown University.
Mild Cognitive Impairment
Some cognitive impairment seems to come with old age, but we can influence the degree with a healthy lifestyle according to Leilani Doty, PhD, Director, University of Florida Cognitive & Memory Disorder Clinics. See , which says, "With a healthy lifestyle many people may be able to improve memory function, maintain the current level of memory function, or slow down progressive decline. A healthy lifestyle includes good nutrition, drinking 8 to 10 glasses of water a day unless a physician limits liquid intake, daily physical exercise, daily brain exercise such as doing crossword puzzles, reading and discussing the reading material, visiting with friends, doing tasks, working on enjoyable projects, developing leisure activities, trying to learn something new every day, playing a musical instrument, listening to music with or without lyrics (words), doing or enjoying art, taking photographs, looking at photo albums and remembering the details of the pictures and people."
Our evolution in times when food was scarce makes our bodies stubbornly defend our fat stores. When we reduce our calories, our body prepares for hard times and reduces the basic metabolism rate. To make matters worse, according to "set point" theory, the body has a genetically set favorite weight that it stubbornly defends. The good news is that exercise lowers the set point and raises the basic metabolism rate. Also diets that fill us with low calorie density but nutritious foods have less effect on the metabolism rate.
I describe several books below that offer eating guides. Based on those books and other sources that I trust here are some suggestions for losing weight:
Don't make these mistakes: Ten common Mistakes Individuals Who Are Trying to Lose Weight Make.
"Calorie restriction" is a concept that is related to weight control and dieting, but it emphasizes the improvement of health and anti-aging rather than weight control. Calorie intake is minimized but the intake of needed nutrients is optimized. (One can call this strategy "optimal nutrition.") The calorie restriction reduces the body's metabolic rate. It is a proven strategy for extending life span in lower primates and other species, so the probability of doing the same for humans is an exciting prospect. Stay tuned on this important subject! For more information go to Hot Topic: Calorie Restriction, CRON - Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition, and Calorie Restriction Appears Better Than Exercise At Slowing Primary Aging.
Supermarkets don't usually sell whole intact cereal grains other than brown rice, but many health food stores do. A favorite source is Bob's Red Mill in Oregon, and I order on-line directly or, if possible, through amazon.com. You can buy the intact grains or foods like steel cut oats or rolled oats, rye, and barley and stone ground flour. We can buy golden flax, sesame seed, and quinoa (an excellent substitute for cereal grains). I buy the intact cereal grains and grind or flake them myself just before I want to use them.
Some of the cereal grains such as wheat and rye thresh free from their hulls, and the seeds are often called "berries." Other cereals such as most oats and barley, especially those grown for farm animal feed, keep their hulls; however, there are "naked" varieties of oats and barley. Oats and barley without hulls are called "groats" and are suitable for human consumption. "Pearled" barley has the germ and some of the bran removed; therefore, it is less nutritious but cooks more rapidly.
A naked cereal seed or berry consists of the germ and an outer layer of bran covering a starchy endosperm. The germ is very nutritious, but when it is milled, its oil becomes rancid if not stored under refrigeration. Therefore, we should keep whole wheat flour in the refrigerator. Rolled grains in which the enzymes causing rancidity are deactivated by heat. The bran is a good source of fiber and contains other nutrients. The endosperm is mostly starch, but it also contains significant protein. The protein in bread wheat is high in gluten, which makes an elastic dough that can rise during fermentation. However, some people do not tolerate gluten well.
If you are interested in whole wheat bread making I invite you to go to my bread page, Bread Machine Baking.
When I was a boy on the farm and my mother decided to have fried chicken for dinner (noon), one of us ran down a fryer in the chicken yard (free range chickens), painlessly amputated its head with an ax, scalded it, and removed the feathers. Mother eviscerated it and cut it into pieces. She had little reason to disinfect the knife and work area because the chickens were clean and healthy.
The June 12, 2009, issue of the New York Times reported that the CDC released a report saying that poultry was the most common source of food poisoning in the United States in 2006. The spores of some pathogens can survive cooking. Leafy vegetables and fruit were also a common source of food poisoning, so we should wash them thoroughly, especially salad greens.
The food safety situation with respect to the production and slaughtering of animals is alarming. See Slaughtering and Processing.
People may suppose that all meat and poultry is inspected by the USDA; therefore, it must be safe. In the first place, only meat that enters interstate commerce is inspected by the USDA, and there are a lot of pitfalls in the inspection program. (Meat in intrastate commerce is regulated by the states.) The USDA primarily serves agriculture rather than consumers; therefore, it is inordinately subject to pressure from meat producers and processors to minimize regulation. All food safety matters should be under the FDA, but meat is not. If you wisely invest in Marion Nestle's book, What to Eat, read the chapter entitled "Meat: Questions of Safety."
Also read John Robbins' extraordinary book entitled The Food Revolution, and you may never eat another hamburger among other things. Hamburger is especially problematic.
Water
Not the least of the essential nutrients is water. Dr. Walter C. Willett at Harvard says that we need 64 ounces of fluid from food or water per day if we are on a 2,000 calorie diet. If we do activities that raise a sweat, we need more. Caffeine and alcoholic drinks don't count as much as water because they are diuretics. Unfortunately, it is getting more difficult to be assured of good quality water.
Vitamins, Minerals, and Phytochemicals
"Nutrition Facts" on Food Labels
One of the greatest advances in consumer protection is the "Nutrition Facts" labels on foods showing the basic per-serving nutritional information as required by the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990, which was amended in 2003 to require showing trans fat, effective January 1, 2006. The label now shows the serving size, the servings per container, calories per serving, calories from fat, and for the following it shows the amount in grams or milligrams and the "% Daily Value": total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, dietary fiber, sugar, and protein. It also shows the % daily value for vitamins A and C and for iron and calcium. The "Daily Value" standard is the daily need for an average persons eating 2,000 and 2,500 calories.
All of the macro-nutrients produce calories (yes, including protein), which are a measure of the amount of energy provided by the "fuel." Fats are loaded with calories: 9 calories per gram (125 calories per Tbsp.) compared to 4 for carbohydrates, 4 for proteins, and 7 for alcohol. Our daily calorie requirement depends upon our Basic Metabolism Rate (BMR) and our physical activity. The BMR is approximately the amount of calories we burn while resting. It depends upon our genes, gender, age, size, body type, and muscle to fat ratio. ("Calories" is usually shorthand for kilocalories.)
Exercise burns off a few calories, but it also increases the desirable HDL in the blood, improves the heart's pumping efficiency improving circulation, reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, increases muscle mass, and strengthens the bones. Those benefits should get us off of the couch, but there are many more. For more excellent information from Harvard go to Exercise. Also see Promoting and Prescribing Exercise for the Elderly and Benefits of Exercise Inspire Elderly to Persevere.
Preventing Degenerative Diseases
We have long been aware of how nutrition can prevent and reverse certain deficiency diseases such as rickets, beriberi, and pellagra, but can good nutrition prevent and reverse dengenerative diseases? We shall see how it can. T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., an eminent nutrition research scientist at Cornell (see his book below) has spent a lifetime studying the relationship between diet and disease. To hear him talk about the subject go to Colin Campbell speaks at GRCC Wellness Forum. Also see Prevention of Chronic Disease by Means of Diet and Lifestyle Changes.
Since obesity results from consuming more food energy than we expend, the way to reverse it is to have a negative energy balance to burn off the accumulated fat. The most satisfactory way to do that is to eat less energy dense food, i.e., foods with fewer calories per gram, and to eat more food that is nutrient dense, i.e., food that has more nutrients per calorie. We will have more to say about this under weight control.
To have an optimum diet, we need to adopt a whole foods life style. For example, for breakfast we should have a whole orange instead of orange juice out of a carton so that we have a fresh product and get the valuable fiber and nutrients in the pulp. Have whole grain cereals. Instead of regular Cream of Wheat have Cream of Whole Wheat, which is made from high protein Montana wheat. Have "old-fashioned" rolled oats instead of "quick oats" or "instant oats." Have whole wheat toast instead of white toast. For dinner we should have brown rice instead of polished rice and especially instead of instant rice. Have whole wheat pasta instead of white pasta. See Whole wheat pasta.
HAMBURGER MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH
It is a widely known fact, but generally ignored, that hamburgers are high in saturated fat and cholesterol, but few consumers know that "grinders," large companies that grind and sell hamburger to fast food companies, rather than buying and boning carcasses of meat, buy trimmings from both domestic and foreign slaughterhouses without testing for pathogens. The trimmings are mixed so that it is difficult to trace sources of pathogens when outbreaks of disease occur. The grinding mixes the pathogens throughout the hamburger, so frying does not kill the germs in the center until the internal temperature reaches 160F, but you need not remember this number. Just don't buy hamburger, period. See Consumer Food Safety Behavior: A Case Study in Hamburger Cooking and Ordering.
The chain hamburger sellers are the moral equivalents of the tobacco companies. Generally, they put profits before public health.
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The bottom line is that we the consumers are responsible for protecting ourselves from meat borne pathogens. Read and abide by the safe handling instructions on USDA inspected meats. The meat safety risk (pathogens and hormones) piled on top of the nutritional risk is enough to make a vegetarian out of anyone.
The first gap in meat production is that there is no regulation applying to the production of the animals. Cattle feedlots are so unsanitary that antibiotics must be mixed in the feed. A second gap is that tested meat can be sold before the reults of the test are known. A third gap is that the USDA has no authority to recall contaminated meat although most producers do comply.
In addition to bacterial contamination we must be concerned about chemical contamination from pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. For a detailed discussion of the subject go to Pesticides and Your Food.
Using "organic" foods reduces the risk of chemical contamination. See Organic foods: Are they safer? More nutritious? from the Mayo Clinic. I think their analysis is fair and balanced.
We need to get in the habit of using safe food preparation practices. After preparing meat or poultry, we need to disinfect our utensils and the work area. In preparing lettuce, spinach, or greens for a salad we should triple wash it. This won't remove all contamination, but it will greatly reduce it.
Now we come to the difficult problem of choosing an eating plan. First we will look at some food pyramids, which are general guides, and then I will describe some authoritative books on the subject.
Isn't it interesting that MyPyramid is a product of the USDA, a department representing agriculture, rather than by Health and Human Services? Why do you suppose that milk has such a large swath of the pyramid? It couldn't be because of dairy industry pressure could it? Here are some food pyramids that have not been distorted by special interests and are nutritionally superior:
The best known food guide to promote health is the USDA Food Guide. It is better than their food pyramid, but it has critics among nutrition authorities. Go to Dietary Guidelines for Americans. It recommends that we "Keep total fat intake between 20 to 35 percent of calories, with most fats coming from sources of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, such as fish, nuts, and vegetable oils." Notice in Chapter 2 they compare the USDA Food Guide with DASH or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. (These dietary approaches foster good health including but not limied to reducing hypertension.) The DASH guide is the most researched guide available. For more on DASH see DASH Eating Plan, which is "an eating plan that is low in saturated fat, cholesterol, and total fat [27%, which isn't very low] and that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products. This eating plan....also includes whole grain products, fish, poultry, and nuts. It is reduced in lean red meat, sweets, added sugars, and sugar-containing beverages compared to the typical American diet. It is rich in potassium, magnesium, and calcium, as well as protein and fiber."
Introductory college nutrition textbooks are good to give us the basics of nutrition. An older edition of the leading college textbook is Understanding Nutrition, 9th Edition, (2002) by Eleanor Noss Whitney and Sharon Rady Rolfes. A new 11th edition, (2007) sells for about $120, but good used copies of the 9th edition are selling for about $1.50 as I write this. (You can see why I like to buy a good used copy of a recent previous edition of a textbook. They are not too far out of date, and they are huge bargains.) Since it is quite readable and generously illustrated, it is a good book to browse, and since it contains so much information, it is a good reference book. Its appendix includes a very useful extensive "Table of Food Composition" and a good glossary. This book gives a lot of information on foods, nutrients, and digestion processes. It recommends that fat intake be no less than 15% of calories and no more than 30%, which is controversial. It has a chapter entitled "Planning a Healthy Diet," which states the principles very well, but the recommended choices and servings of foods are based on the USDA recommendations.
Gene Spiller, Ph.D., founder and director of the Health Research and Studies Institute, is a nutritionist who also advocates a diet similar to the Mediterranean diet. His book is Eat Your Way to Better Health: Good Health and Great Recipes with the Superpyramid Eating Program (1993). (As I write this, you could buy a good used copy for less than a dollar. What a bargain!) Whole grains, beans, non-fat dairy, and egg whites are the foundation of his eating plan, but fruits and vegetables are equally important. He relegates plant fats to the third tier (moderate use) on his pyramid and animal fats to the fourth and fifth tier. It includes one good chapter on weight loss and lowering cholesterol. His "Superpyramid" (see above) and appealing menus and recipes emphasize plant-based foods but permits good oils and some fish and meats. This is a good book for those who don't want to become vegetarians.
How do we know what to eat and what to avoid? You can try experiments on mice and monkeys, but a powerful way to study people is to do epidemiological studies. Dr. T. Colin Campbell and others did a landmark epidemiological study in China that provides much of the evidence for the nutrition information for the book entitled The China Study, Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health (2006) by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.. and Thomas M. Campbell II. They found many surprising relationships between diet and disease, which changed Dr. Campbell's own eating plan. He now advocates a whole food, plant-based diet that minimizes salt and added fats. For a summary of this book go to The China Study. This is a book we should all read.
In Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy, the Harvard Medical Shool Guide to Healthy Eating by Walter C. Willett, M.D>, Dr. P.H. is very critical of the USDA's food guide pryramid particularly in suggesting that all fats are bad and all complex carbohydrates are good. Some have questioned his enthusiasm for the "ggod fats." His Heathy Eating Pyramid is quite similar to the above Harvard pryramid.
The Mayo Clinic book, Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight for Everybody by Donald Hensrud (Editor, 2005). This book has a good accessible discussion of the principles of a healthy eating plan and weight control, but the menus are not consistent enough with those principles in my judgment. It is rather vague on fat limitation. The book says, "Whatever percentage of your calories are from fat, choose fats that will promote long-term health." (p. 124). It does say, "Vegetables and fruits should form the basis of your diet,---. (p. 89). It also says to remember the legumes and whole grains. The Mayo Clinic was an early proponent of the lower calorie density strategy. See their excellent brief explanation of the strategy: Energy density and weight loss: Feel full on fewer calories. This strategy was pioneered at U. of Alabama and Penn State. Here is a story about this approach: 'Energy Density' Is Key For Weight Control. Also see Calorie density key to losing weight. Weight is controlled not by reducing the amount of food, which causes hunger, but by choosing foods with fewer calories.
There is a group of respected nutrition-oriented medical doctors that have books on healthful eating and much to the embarrassment of the medical establishment show that degenerative disease can be prevented and even reversed by diet. Their diets are also good for weight control. They advocate the strategy of using foods high in nutrient density (high in nutrients relative to calories) and low in calorie density (calories per gram) but especially low in fat. They all emphasize eating more fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and beans.
Most of the eating plans in the food guides mentioned above are whole-food vegetarian or near vegetarian diets (without mentioning the "v word") designed entirely for nutritional reasons. The evidence is clear: the most healthful foods are whole plant foods that are high in nutrients relative to calories. (We should note that not all vegetarian diets are healthful. White bread is vegetarian but not healthful.) Unlike the authors of the above mentioned books some vegetarians reject animal foods primarily for moral and environmental reasons.
Vegetarians include vegans (/VEE-guns/) who are strict vegetarians that eat no animal products, lacto-vegetarians who also consume dairy products, and ovo-lacto-vegetarians who also eat eggs and are the most common vegetarians according to the International Vegetarian Union.
There are also ovo-lacto-pesco (eggs, dairy, fish) vegetarians, but perhaps they are more often regarded as "near vegetarians."
To learn about everything you need to know about the nutritional aspect of vegetarianism see The New Becoming Vegetarian: The Essential Guide To A Healthy Vegetarian Diet by Vesanto Melina and Brenda Davis (Paperback - Aug 2003). (Check out the reviews on the Amazon page.) It also offers help on shopping and meal planning and has a recipe section. Having been reared on farm cooking, I was once concerned about how one can prepare a tasty, satisfying, nutritious meal that is meatless, but here is a book that will make it a lot easier for you.
Aren't humans omnivores, so isn't it unnatural to become a vegetarian? No, after agriculture was started humans became behavioral omnivores, but there is strong evidence we are anatomical and physiological herbivores. For example, our teeth and gastrointestinal tract were designed for plant eating. Our closest relatives, chimpanzees and great apes are basically herbivores. See The Comparative Anatomy of Eating.
But aren't animal foods necessary to have a well-balanced diet as the agricultural interests contend? As we have seen, even a vegan diet can be well-balanced with the addition of a multivitamin and mineral supplement, which all of us should take anyway.
Aside from the moral question there are some important practical reasons for a plant-based diet. As a brief introduction to the virtues of the plant-based diet go to Eating for Life. To begin with, there is the environmental concern. One aspect of this is that feeding animals to feed us is a highly inefficient use of resources, and this is especially true in the fattening of beef cattle, which requires the most feed per pound of meat produced. Beef production requires an enormous amount of petroleum to produce the fertilizer and fuel needed. (See Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler. In some areas the fertilizer pollutes the ground water. In other areas ground water is pumped for the irrigation of feed grains, which in some areas has caused a serious drop in the water table. Beef production requires an enormous amount of water, which is becoming a scarcer resource.
When animals were raised, fattened, and milked on crop/livestock farms, the manure was used to fertilize the fields. With feedlots, pork and egg factories, and drylot dairies manure disposal becomes a serious environmental problem. Have you ever driven by a large feedlot on a warm day? Having been reared on a crop/livestock farm, I know about inevitable barn and barnyard aromas, but the feedlot stenches indicate to me that there is a serious sanitation problem.
Feedlots put cattle in such unhealthful conditions that they have to be fed antibiotics constantly. This causes pathogens that are also a problem for humans to become resistant to the antibiotics.
There are serious food safety issues in the way that meat is being produced, processed, and distributed. Due to factory farming the food pathogens are more widespread and due to the wide use of antibiotics the pathogens are becoming more virulent. Our food inspection is woefully inadequate, and since the production comes from a few very large producers that distribute the meat over very large areas, food contamination can affect very large numbers of people before the problem is isolated and the meat is recalled. See Of E. coli, feedlots and slaughterhouses -- and the right way to raise beef.
Ruminants such as cows, sheep, and goats expel, to use a nice word, serious amounts of methane gas, which has over 20 times the global warming effect of CO2. See Killer cow emissions and other bovine problems.
Now we come to the most important problem with animal food products. It is true that beef, pork, eggs, and milk provide high quality protein. In fact they are providing more protein than people should eat. A more serious problem is that these foods come laced with varying amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol and may also come with contaminants and pathogens, which are serious health risks.
In 1985 the Surgeon General started requiring this health warning on cigarettes: "Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, and May Complicate Pregnancy." If this warning is justified, then foods containing significant amount of saturated fat and cholesterol should carry this warning: Regular consumption of this food causes heart attacks, strokes, cancer of several kinds, obesity, and diabetes. Just how large are these risks? Consider this: The risk for heart disease for run-of-the-mill vegetarians is half that for non-vegetarians, and the risk for cancer is 40% of that for non-vegetarians. Now vegetarianism doesn't seem eccentric after all, does it?
A great gift that parents can give their children is to put them on a healthful whole food, plant-based diet early. (A vegan diet is fine for children, but it requires more supplementation and careful management than an ovo-lacto-vegetarian diet to insure adequate vitamins B12 and D, protein, iron, and zinc.) Here is an excellent article on the virtues and precautions with a plant-based diet and especially a vegan diet for children: Vegetarian Diets for Children: Right from the Start. Parents should also have the book cited below entitled The New Becoming Vegetarian.
Here is a good vegetarian site: Vegetarian Basics 101.
If you are convinced as I am that a healthful plant-based diet is superior to a meat-centered diet and are ready to make the change, make it slowly. I takes a while to work a satisfactory cuisine. First cut out the cured and smoked meats, sausage, lunch meats, hamburger, and steaks. Next, cut out all red meat. Then cut out poultry and farm-produced fish.
Many people probably believe that a plant-based diet is too radical. However, they are probably not aware of the connection between diet and serious degenerative diseases, but if they are aware, they may think that drugs and surgery will save them. If so, they should do some reading starting with this: Heart Bypass Surgery Complications, which doesn't mention the risk of neurological and mental problems. I had a good friend who left the intensive care unit with permanent blindness.
I suspect that when many people consider a plant-based diet, they wonder about how they can make a satisfying meal with adequate protein. For an ovo-lacto vegetarian or near vegetarian, getting enough good protein is easy. A vegan needs to rely more on legumes, nuts, tofu, soy milk, and soy yogurt for adequate protein and on a good daily multivitamin-mineral tablet for vitamin B12. Remember that even leafy vegetables contain significat amounts of protein.
It is a challenge to come up with a good substitute for the traditional Western meat, potatoes, and vegetable plate. An excellent substitute for meat and potatoes is legumes such as dry beans, lentils, and dry peas, which are rich in potein and starch. Frozen fresh baby lima beans are also relatively high in protein. For an excellent guide for cooking beans and grain see Cooking Beans and Grain. For a lot of good bean recipes see Bean Bible.
It is nice to add a suitable topping to beans. Here is a place to let the imagination run wild. How about whipped yogurt with an herb or chopped tomato sprinkled with basil topping on black beans, salsa on navy beans, or mustard sauce (mustard, yogurt or silken tofu, and a tad of brown sugar) on cooked dry lima beans? With beans on the plate you can skip the potatoes and have two vegetables such as broccoli and snap peas.
My favorite meatless dishes are one-dish meals with enough for lots of leftovers. This includes vegetable stews, soups, casseroles, and salads. Although recipes help, we can do a lot of improvising.
My basic stew consists of a base of chopped carrots, celery, and onion. I can add to that most or all of the following: collard greens, chard, broccoli, frozen baby lima beans, green bean, frozen cut okra, frozen corn, zucchini, a can of cut tomatoes, a can of soybeans, and a can of kidney beans. For the starch I can add cooked brown rice or pearled barley, or I can add whole wheat noodles or pasta. Another way to go is to serve the stew on a bed of cooked grain or quinoa. I like to flavor the stew with balsamic vinegar, garlic, and mixed herbs. This dish originally had hamburger in it, but now I substitute canned kidney beans for protein.
Broccoli is the king of the vegetables nutrition-wise. It may be something of an acquired taste, so not everyone appreciates it. Mixing it in a vegetable stew makes it more acceptable. When I serve it alone, I dress it with a little olive oil and herbs with garlic powder.
My vegetable soup is similar to the stew. I use about the same vegetables except no tomatoes. For protein I may add a can of soybeans, garbanzo beans, small white beans, or diced firm tofu. I also love green split pea soup or bean soup (both with carrots, celery, and onion added) with whole grain muffins. Here are online sources of meatless soup and stew recipes:
A vegetabe soup is especially good for those who want to lose weight. It is filling in relation to the calories. Omnivores can put beef, ham, or chicken in it, refrigerate it, and skim off the fat.
A special kind of vegetable stew that I love is a good borscht. I put 4 cups of water in the 6-qt stew pot and start it heating. (I may add some beef bouillon.) I slice 1 large onion and let it saute while I shred in the food processor 3 beets (save the tops because they are excellent for cooked greens), 1 turnip, and 2 large carrots and add them to the pot. After the onions are removed, you can lightly saute some garlic if you like.) I slice 1/2 of a cabbage and add it along with a can of cut tomatoes and 2 cans of kidney beans for protein. Finally, I season it with salt, pepper, and a couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar. When I serve it, I put a dollop of whipped yogurt on top. Here are some online borscht recipes:
Another good meatless dish is a stir fry dish. Again, we can do a lot of improvising. I like to put stir fried vegetables on a bed of quinoa, bulgar, and kidney beans. To cook, add 1/2 cup of thoroughly rinsed quinoa and 1/2 cup of bulgar with a little salt to two cups of water and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for about 17 minutes. After it is cooked I like to add one cup of canned red kidney beans, mix, and saute in a frying pan in which garlic has been lightly sauted in olive oil.
Here are some online sources of meatless stir fry recipes:
Try roasting vegetables for variety. Green beans, peppers, zucchini, yams, beets, and carrots roast well. Cut into consistent sized pieces, coat them with olive oil, sprinkle with herbs, place on a cookie sheet, put in a 400 degree oven, turn every 15 minutes, and check for crispness in 40 minutes. Serve along with a protein dish such as a bowl of pea soup or kidney beans.
I'm fond of meatless Mexican dishes. One of my favorite one-dish salads is a tostada for two. I put some olive oil in a heated frying pan and dump in a can of kidney beans and mash them with a potato masher. I dampen and heat two corn tortillas between two plates. I shred about several leaves of romaine lettuce and chop two small tomatoes. I make a quacamole. The avocado should be just ripe enough so that the peel will easily pull off of sections. I mash the avocado and mix in a couple of tbsp of yogurt and add some herbs. I put a tortilla on a plate, spread beans on it, add romaine and chopped tomatoes. Spread on the quacamole. Add a salsa on top. Yum!
Another Mexican dish that I like is a meatless burrito. Warm a large soft tortilla, pile on some heated canned black beans, microwaved frozen corn or cooked brown rice, chopped tomato, and yogurt. You can try adding condiments like enchilada sauce or taco sauce, cumin, or cilantro. Fold and add some salsa on top. Serve with a green salad.
For vegetarian substitutes go to The Road to Vegetaria.
Having a good lunch is a problem for working people. A suitable soup and sandwich is a good standby. At home a favorite for me would be a bowl of green split pea soup and a sardine sandwich on whole wheat bread.
What can a teenager eat at home in place of hamburger? Well, there are several veggie burgers on the market, but I would rather avoid manufactured food. Here is a tofu burger recipe: Mash 1/2 pound firm tofu, add diced onion, 2 tbsp flaxseed meal or wheat germ, 2 tbsp whole wheat flour, 2 tbsp soy sauce, and salt and pepper. Combine well and fry with olive oil until brown.
Another alternative to a hamburger is to grill a portobello mushrooms. This is an especially great tip if you have kids who love hamburgers or if you want to avoid meat. I three-inch caps, wash and dry them, cut off the stem, spread a little barbegue sauce on the gills, place it gills up in a bowl without a lid, and microwave for two minutes. If you want a big burger, use six-inch caps. You can grill slices of onion to put on the mushroom if you like. Skip the fries! Also see Grilled Portobello Burgers. Portobello burgers are appearing on lots of restaurant menus.
A good alternative to regular yogurt is soy yogurt, which is cholesterol free. I make it the same way I make dairy yogurt. I start wirh low-fat soy milk. I also make "buttermilk" using soy milk and a fil mjolk culture.
When thinking of vegetables to serve think of the crucifers (cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, and collards), cooked greens (spinach, chard, and beet tops), legumes (green peas and beans), summer squash, red and green peppers, and mixed green salads and choose regularly from all of these groups. Most of these can be purchased fresh, and we can go to the froze foods to get baby lima beans, corn, cut okra, etc.. Think of root vegetables like carrots (not potatoes) and squash as more desirable starches.
A good plant-based breakfast is easy. One choice is a good cooked whole grain cereal using old-fashioned oat meal or cream of whole wheat with added chopped walnuts, raisins, flax-seed meal, non-fat milk, cinnamon, but no cream or sugar. An even better choice is a good muesli. Add some chopped dates and walnuts, sunflower seed, and raisins to regular oat meal. Add some unsweetened apple juice, heat some if you prefer, and add some whipped yogurt. A good breakfast will get you through the morning at work without a doughnut or muffin.
Green Smoothies
Raw broccoli is good food, but did you ever try to eat raw broccoli? Let a blender do the chewing for you. Also toss in a cored apple and a little water, blend, and you have a good tasting, healthful green smoothie. Even a broccoli hater will like it.
A smoothie that I often make consists of a can of V8 for liquid, about four large leaves of collard greens or kale, four large leaves of chard, and a Fuji apple. If I want more protein, I add 1/2 cup of canned soy beans. One should rotate the greens often so that there isn't a build-up of specific plant alkaloids. (I carefully wash the greens that I use. I like spinach, but it carries more risk of contamination and is jharder to wash.) The apple or a ripe banana masks the bitterness of the greens. I also add a tsp of Splenda or about four drops of stevia. The spicy flavor of the collards or kale is enough for me, but you can add a few drops of hot sauce, Worchestshire sauce, or balsamic vinegar for additional flavoring. I either eat the smoothie cold or heat it in the microwave. This makes four servings of a satisfying lunch for my wife and me. (It keeps well in the refrigerator for a day or two.) I serve it in a bowl, sprinkle chopped walnuts on top to provide something to chew on, and eat it with a spoon. I like a green smoothie along with hummus on crisp toast for my lunch. It satisfies me until dinner.
To see how to make a smoothie, go to green smoothie and How to make a Green Smoothie. For online green smoothie recipes see 70 Green Smoothie Recipes.
It is very desirable for a serious smoothie maker to have a heavy duty blender like a Vita-Mix or Blendtec Home TB-621-BHM, which I use because it is short enough to slip under our cabinets and because it has only one blade making it easier to scrape out the food. Lesser blenders can be used if not overloaded.
Raw foodists advocate green smoothies because the vegetable enzymes are not destroyed by cooking. However, they are destroyed in digestion. See Food Fight: Raw vs. Cooked. A real advantage is that blending breaks up the vegetable tissue so that it can be more easily digested. It is also easier to consume more vegetables especially those we might shun such as broccoli, collard greens, turnip greens, and kale.
A good dish that is related to smoothies is the gazpacho. For a recipe for a classic Spanish gazpacho soup go to Gazpacho Recipe. For a green version go to Green gazpacho.
Sprouting
Some people are interested in sprouting. For information on sprouting see Welcome to Sprouting 101! Also see Sprouting seed Info Center.
If you want safe, fresh food, grow it yourself, and it's not at all that difficult. Think of having garden fresh snap peas, bush beans, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli, sweet corn, and fresh herbs! See this seed site for a host of tempting possibilities: Vegetable Seeds Catalog.
A small garden is healthful and rewarding activity for adults and a great project for teen-agers. It is a physical outdoor activity that gets them away from the TV and computer. I wasn't thrilled to work in the garden when I was a teenager, but I did enjoy its bounty.
A garden need not take much space. I wouldn't have a lawn, but even if you do, you may be able to have a lot of garden around the border. If you are an apartment dweller with a south facing balcony, you can grow tomatoes in a tub.
John Robbins in his book, The Food Revolution (p. 384), says, "Will we become even more alienated from the natural world as our food becomes even more processed, refined, and adulterated? Or will our cities be full of urban rooftop gardens, with ever more people celebrating the pleasures of food that is wholesome, fresh, and full of vitality?"
A garden doesn't require great soil. Although we would like to have a deep, well-drained, rich sandy loam soil, we can do with less desirable soils. If the soil is poorly drained, try mounding (See Raised Beds.) If the soil is infertile, start by working in a lot of rotted manure or compost.
For more information of home gardening see Vegetable Gardening, but not being fond of spading, I would use no-till cultivation. See this great video: No-Till Gardening.
In the US the family dinner is a dying institution, and that is a shame. Childrens' extracurricular activities and parent work requirements have encroached upon the family dinner with seriously bad consequences.
One bad consequences is child obesity of epidemic proportions. (See Fight Child Obesity With the Traditional Family Dinner.
It has been reported that 17% of US children between ages 2 and 19 have been classified as obese--not just overweight but obese! (See Parents Failing To Recognize Their Children's Risk For Obesity May Be Contributing To Epidemic.
Some parents may think that chubby-cheeked little children are cute, but the Mayo Clinic says, "Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition that affects children and adolescents." (See Childhood Obesity.)
A prime parental responsibility is to teach their children not only what to eat but how to eat it. These teaching include the following with respect to dinner:
Other teachings should include these:
There are many dimension to food ethics. There is the issue of how modern methods of food production detrimentally affect the environment and mistreat animals, marketing aimed at children, inaccurate health claims in advertising and promotion, the sale of unhealthful foods, unhealthful school lunches, and the list goes on. But one issue that I haven't seen addressed is the ethical issues in what we choose to serve our families and friends.
Fifty years ago it was common to see a sterling silver receptacle filled with cigarettes on the coffee table. We don't see them now partly because we don't want our homes smoked up, but another reason is that we don't think it is right to "push" cigarettes because they are bad for people. By the same token is it morally right to serve cake and ice cream to our friends and family? You might say, "Come on, lighten up; one serving isn't going to wreck their health." Neither will one cigarette.
We have strict standards of sanitation in food preparation for our families and friends, so why don't have have strict nutritional standards?
I think we should have especially high standards in feeding children because it is an educational issue as well as a nutritional issue. Is it morally wrong for a mother to show her love for her children by serving them cookies made from a base of white flour, sugar, and saturated fat when she knows that these ingredients are not healthful? When we are feeding children, we are also teaching them what foods are nutritionally desirable to eat and what aren't.
I'll go even further. Is it morally wrong for churches to sponsor cake sales or to serve cake at church dinners? Some churches wouldn't think of serving a glass of wine, which may have some health benefits, but think it's fine to serve cake.
Is it ethically wrong for a person to feed himself unhealthful foods knowingly? That is a more debatable issue. I guess it depends upon what family responsibility one has and to what extent society may have to provide health care.
An excellent book on supermarket foods is What to Eat (2006) by Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University. She is an expert on the politics of food, and her book is heavily laced with the subject. It is infuriating to find out how much big business adversely influences food selection and regulation. She exposes marketing ploys to get us to eat more overly processed food laced with polysyllabic food additives and various sugars and fats. It is interesting to consider to what extent the food industry is responsible for the current obesity epidemic. She often relates her own experiences that give the book a nice personal touch. She gives a lot of conservative guidance on food selection, but the ten most important words that she wants us to remember is "eat less [especially junk food], move more, eat lots of fruits and vegetables." I think her book is an interesting and enlightening long read (about 600 pages), but a "must read." To read an interesting story about her, go to Down to a Science.
One might expect that the American Dietetic Association Complete Food and Nutrition Guide by Robert Larson Duyff would be the authoritative guide that we need. It contains much good information and much of the book is on-line. See Preview ofADA Complete Food and Nutrition Guide. However, the book seems to hue closely to the conservative positions of the ADA that seems to want to avoid contradicting anything in the USDA Food Guide or MyPyramid and to avoid any rift with the agricultural producers and processors.
Here, with my bracketed remarks, are the ADA's dietary principles taken from Three Keys to a Healthful Diet:
I first became skeptical about dietitians after a hospital stay. (I am tempted to say that "hospital food" is an oxymoron.) A recent stay confirmed previous conclusions. My first dinner consisted of tasteless meat loaf and gravy (high in saturated fat), hardly edible mashed potatoes (high glycemic index), broccoli that was properly cooked but not seasoned (steam tables usually ruin broccoli), and white cake for dessert, which I didn't touch. When bread was served, it was white bread. Since the food was very low in fiber, I took psyllium after dinner and breakfast. As noted above, dietetics is the science or art of applying the principles of nutrition to the diet. Where was the science or art in planning this meal?
If you are interested in your health and the health of our planet, read The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World by John Robbins. He discusses all of the risks of eating meat, poultry, eggs, amd milk including the serious risk of food-borne diseases. Read it, you may never again bring hamburger or an uncooked chicken into your kitchen. Check out the reviews on the amazon.com page for this book. It is more highly praised than any book I have ever seen on amazon.com. This book should be read by every health care policy maker in Washington and in the states, by every physician, and by every literate American who has not informed himself on this subject. John Robbins has a newer book on nutrition, and to hear him talk about the main thrust of the book go to Healthy at 100.
Other On-line Resources
Dr. Joel Fuhrman has a good health blog: DiseaseProof.com
For an interesting nutrition newsletter go to Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter.
For a very good monthly news letter go to Nutrition Action News Letter published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest and also see their Home page and Food Safety News. To see the complete contents of the News Letter it is necessary to subscribe to it. In 2007, the FDA Commissioner awarded CSPI the agency’s highest honor, the Harvey W. Wiley Special Citation.
CSPI is now working to:
The American Institute for Cancer Research has released these eight guidelines for avoiding cancer.
Note that these are the same steps that are needed to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. In order to reduce these degenerative disease we need to adopt a healthful lifestyle.
Copyright © 2005 & 2009 Robert G. Parvin. This web site is made available free of charge "as is," with no warranties whatsoever. Some of the food suggestions in this page may not be suitable for everyone, so if you are uncertain confirm their suitability by consulting your health professional. If you are dissatisfied with this web site, or any portion thereof, your exclusive remedy shall be to cease using the web site.